By Paulo Coelho
When Abbot Antonio was asked if the road of sacrifice led to Heaven, he replied:
‘There are two such roads. The first is that of the man who mortifies his flesh and does penance because he believes that we are all damned. This man feels guilty and unworthy to live a happy life. He will never get anywhere because God does not inhabit guilt.
The second road is that of the man who knows that the world is not as perfect as we would all like it to be, but who nevertheless prays, does penance and puts time and effort into improving the world around him. In this case, the Divine Presence helps him all the time, and he will find Heaven.’
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“prays, does penance and puts time and effort into improving the world around him.” well that about summs up the second road, why is it difficult to stay on thsi road nancy ! it does not ask one to be perfect, it accepts that we fail ! but so long as we arise and try again we are on the second road, i feel.
heaven & hell are two states within us, depends which way we are facing, oscillating !!
bo0om paulo,
there is no road, what road, its just our imagination.
this is the kingdom of heaven where if we should all fancy whatever it becomes a reality, its so easy just a matter of choosing which dimension we wanna really perceive or project.
god is a concept that is you.
the time to revel in self sacrifice, etc…
we the organism of life, have to react,
there is no good or bad its just another point of view.
what if ???
love to you….all,
bo0om
fLUXman
I choose the second street because the life may move. And if sometimes a little should be different than me to me has introduced, then it should probably be like that.
I think that love and dream must walking toghether, real love must to feed our dreams and believe in our dreams.unfortunatley often it’s not so. but we have the duty to research this kind of love.
love karen
the 2 roads…
i like the 2nd one.. because every person is doing bad things.. that we always ask for forgiveness to god.. that we are sorry for what we’ve done…
julie !
if u start living in your present, while counting your blessings, u will find that there are oppetunities for love. ultimately no soulmate is going to fulfill u, at best it can point out that everything outside of you is inadequate to satiate you, permanently. then your journey within begins and we find love for ourselves, the fountainhead from which all love originates.
i liked your ’sincerety’; oit’s the single most important asset in journey called life, i feel.
Yagna,
u are worried about HIV, when thousand and one other possibilities are also there, not everything is in our control, let’s focus of what we want to do ( I am awaiting your response, as also paulo’s ( pray !!!) and others on the newletter blog*, i am onto something important for me and would APPRECIATE WHATEVER HELP FELLOW WARRIORS CAN PROVIDE, i would remain indebted), and leave the rest to HIM / HER.
* http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com/warrioroflight/
MAY THE SMILE REMAIN WITH YOU ALWAYS :-)
aditya
Hi..
I so happy that,I could atleast speak through my letters to the one ,who has been guiding me throughout with his books.As u put in the book,”The Witch of Portobello”,there is a world of unknown…I find my protecter in you ,and many a times i could experiance this world of unknown.However,i would like to share more about my views and the world i am into.May be ,i need your help to arrange my words properly to make it a beautiful sentance.
If possible ,as an ice-breaker,could you just read my blog and post in your comment.
The difference, I think, between the two roads is “forgiveness”… seeking forgiveness from God and forgiving oneself. We all fail and sin from time-to-time. Feeling guilty and unworthy is normal as we sinned (this is better than feeling numb and feeling not-guilty-at-all) and seeking forgiveness and repentance from Almighty is the only way and the first step in forgiving ourselves. The second step is “believing” (by faith) that we are forgiven by God. With that, we can still live a happy life amidst the hardship and imperfection of this world…
“Ao ler uma biografia, lembrai-vos de que a verdade não se enquadra bem numa publicação.” Bernard Shaw
Road to Santiago, 1860 By Paulo Coelho
??
xxxx
heay… here i want to such remind you one article Paulo
Towards God,
“Lord”, I finally said “I am not nailed to that cross, not do I see you there. This cross is empty and so it shall remain for ever, because the time of Death has passed. This cross was the symbol of the infinite power that we all have, nailed and killed by man.
Now this power is born again in life, because I have walked the path of common people and in them I have found your own secret.
You too walked the path of common people. You came to teach all that we were capable of, and we did not want to accept this. You showed us that power and glory were in everyone’s reach, and this sudden vision of our capacity was too much for us. We crucified You not because we are ungrateful do the son of God but because we are very afraid to accept our own capacity. With time and tradition, You again became just a distant divinity, and we returned to our destiny as men.
“This is so sin being happy. Half a dozen exercises and on attentive ear are enough to make a man realize his most impossible dream”.
Road to Santiago, 1860 By Paulo Coelho
Fair enough, but sometimes it gets hard to try!
Well, improving the world around me…comes from my retationship with the Divine presence, like any relationship takes time to comunicate, I talk to him openly, he answer me through his Word, a friend, a book…in my case Coehlo’s books always makes me realiza God’s presence in everyday life; to me has a magical, angelica touch; So I know for a fact that He uses our dear friend Coehlo to touch us, to make us improve and evaluate our own life. Grateful to Paulo send spiritual hugs.
O imagine me not signing;
with LOVE to all
hehe
xxxx
The abbot didn’t exactly answer the question though, did he?
the two roads are both roads of sacrifice; the first, obvious…and the second, sacrificing self for the ‘better’ of the world…being generous with time and money etc, would be classic.
But both are sacrifice
and there in is the answer.
Yes.
Thank you,
You are such a beautiful soul!
I will treat myself as a friend, so i can share every pain and laugh with my heart…so that love can heal my wounds and will give me the strength to move on like a friend for myself which i share with the world.
Love
Hildegarde
Hildegarde
i guess i’ve been in those roads…
and it made me feel like there is something wrong in my life or so..
At first i can not believe it’s your blog.I became surprised.
Does He in the first line is God?
But i think there is no heaven or hell.
Or if there be a somewhere i think it is sth like here ,
further life.
But if there is heaven and hell, i think he is right.
Because if sb thinks he is guilty it is closed to reality he is guilty.
amen
“prays, does penance and puts time and effort into improving the world around him.” well that about summs up the second road, why is it difficult to stay on thsi road nancy ! it does not ask one to be perfect, it accepts that we fail ! but so long as we arise and try again we are on the second road, i feel.
heaven & hell are two states within us, depends which way we are facing, oscillating !!
Prayer makes you calm, at peace and sustains you with enough strength to get through just about anything, and this is what you can call heaven on earth! :)
It is fascinating how much easier it can seem to go the way of guilt, creating in essence, hell, feeling helpless as to how to find the way out of it. Instead of choosing to create heaven right here, right now, as exemplified in the second story shared. People seem deceived into the thinking there is little choice in the matter, all the while so choosing the road that leads them further and further from heaven.
I must admit I feel I have bounced from one road to the other at any given time. To consciously stay on the second road is hard.
Boa noite…
Encantada de conhece-lo…Meu filho e um admirador seu e compra todos os seus libros e lemos toda a familia…Estamos lendo “Como el rio que fluye” e estou gostando muito…Gostaria de contar-lhe minha historia, o melhor te interessaria; vivo en Espanha ha 17 anos, sou de Manaus e vivi no rio 5 anos…Vir aqui com a cara e a coragem como tantos imigrantes e de verdade me encanta este país, menos o frio que passo mal, nao me adapto…Este ano estive em Manaus e Salvador de 27 de setembro a 27 de outubro, em Manaus fazia um calor horrivel e chegando aqui encontrei um frio, que contraste…Sair de casa com 12 anos e fui viver com uma tia en Rio…Sou de uma familia grande minha mae teve 11 filhos e apesar de uma vida pobre , criou 6 mais, sendo os mesmo filhos de minhas irmans, com exceçao de 01 que foi adotivo mesmo…Hoje somos 8 irmaos, ja que uma irman morreu num acidente de carro, isto é, uns policia bebados conduzia um carro da policia e lhe atropelaram; meu irman igual um aidente de carro e ate hoje nao sabemos quem matou e outra minha irman de um cancer no peito…Minha vida e cheia de luta e tambem há “coisas” muita bonita, como toda vida de um ser humano, passamos por várias etapas,…Gosto muito de ler e de escrever também. Sei que seu tempo é precioso, porem se me respondesse ficaria muito feliz…O proximo libro seu gostaria de ser outografado por voce e iria onde fora por esta assinatura…Alguém que te admira muito…Rose …OBS:Abraços a sua esposa…
Amen!